European spruce with an age-ambered appearance and a most beautiful rosette of fine concentric lines and a simple, central tile motif surrounded by a pair of delicate rope rings.

Tuners:

Originals from the 1920's with engraved side-plates and mother-of-pearl buttons mounted on a rosewood-faced head.

Scale:

653mm with 19 frets on an ebony fingerboard.

Neck Width:

51 mm at the nut with 41.5 mm string spacing.

Weight:

1338 grams

Condition:

In remarkably good condition for its 90 years of age.
The maple back and sides have no repairs or cracks and no bad marks, though likely to have been repolished at some time. The two halves of the back have sunk a bit either side of the centre-strip, making each half a little hollowed, but no cracking.
The front has two repaired cracks below the bridge; one if which has been spliced; the other just cleated underneath ... and a very fine surface crack along the centre seam from bridge to soundhole.
The back of the neck has some bumps and marks but nothing that spoils the feel of playing or looking unsightly.

Comments:

Many have said Santos was a guitar-building genius. He seemed to conjour up remarkable-sounding guitars, with varying proportions, made with fairly ordinary materials. This particular guitar has a flamed maple body - as apparently did the Santos guitar used by Regino Sainz de la Maza in the first recording of Rodrigo's Aranjuez concierto.
Obviously having an old-world sound, it has great depth from its low air resonance down between E and F combined with a well balanced treble that is clear and lyrical. There is something very special about this maker's instruments.